Stop Gas from Canadian Tar Sands at the Border - Plea to Clinton
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
CONCORD, N.H. - A planned pipeline to carry tar sands from Alberta into the United States threatens New Hampshire's clean-energy future, according to 38 citizens' groups from northeastern states which are calling on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to stop the pipeline at the Canadian border.
The Keystone X-L pipeline would bring a form of thick crude oil to U.S. refineries that was of little value until oil prices rose and new technology was found to extract and refine it. While the pipeline would run from Montana to Texas, Joe Mendelson, director of global-warming policy at the National Wildlife Federation, says it should also concern states that aren't along the pipeline route.
"It has not only destructive issues in Alberta, Canada, where you get these tar sands, but it's going to force gasoline that's much dirtier than conventional gasoline into states like New Hampshire."
TransCanada, the oil company behind the pipeline, says the project will contribute $20 billion worth of "energy security" to the United States. The groups appealing to Clinton say approval of the project would roll back progress New Hampshire already has made on clean energy and climate.
Mendelson believes the impact of tar sands on both ends of the proposed pipeline - and all the way to the Northeast - is too costly.
"It's threatening to wipe out the gains that New Hampshire has made on its own accord, whether it's dealing with pollution from automobiles or others. And frankly, it's going to further contribute to climate change because it's going to impact the forests and other resources that are so valuable to the Granite State."
The Keystone X-L pipeline would roll back such progress as the Northeast Clean Fuel Standard, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and adoption of tougher California emissions standards, Mendelson says.
"Essentially, if New Hampshire isn't successful with others in fighting this pipeline, it's going to be forced to swallow an impact that it wasn't involved in creating."
New Hampshire groups that have joined the appeal to Clinton to reject the pipeline include Environment New Hampshire, New Hampshire Green Coalition and the New Hampshire Sierra Club.
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